WASHINGTON – Republicans held on strongly Tuesday to their second-most important bastion of power: the United States Senate.

That means President Donald Trump, who holds the most important power center, can continue getting conservative federal judges confirmed – something he has done in record numbers already. And he is in a strong position should another vacancy materialize on the Supreme Court.

It means Trump's anticipated shakeup of his administration should go relatively smoothly: Senate Republicans will be able to rubber-stamp new Cabinet nominees for posts ranging from attorney general to, possibly, defense secretary.

It means that no matter what the new Democratic House of Representatives does in terms of investigating Trump, the Senate is poised to beat back impeachment, as it did for President Bill Clinton in 1998.

And by gaining rather than losing Senate seats, it means Republicans have a vastly improved chance of keeping control through 2020, when they will be defending 22 of 34 seats up for grabs. That represents a table-turning from this year's election, when Democrats had to defend 26 of 35 seats.

Even Sen. Mitch McConnell, the normally stone-faced GOP leader of the Senate, showed a glimpse of glee Wednesday.

"I had one of the cable networks on this morning, and they said, “This is probably a rare opportunity to see McConnell smile,'" the Kentucky Republican told reporters.

The red-state wins in what pundits had predicted would be a blue-wave election prompted self-congratulations from Trump, who tweeted that presidents have added Senate seats in off-year elections only five times in 105 years.

Former president Barack Obama, meanwhile, was silent about the Senate. "Obviously, the Democrats’ success in flipping the House of Representatives, several governorships, and state legislatures will get the most attention," he said in a statement.

As the sun rose in the nation's capital Wednesday, McConnell emerged as the biggest winner of the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans looked to have increased their 51-49 majority to as many as 54 seats:

If Scott wins, that would be four pickups for Republicans in states that Trump won in 2016 – handily in all but Florida. All of those Democrats last month voted against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, which may have helped their opponents.

After confirming 84 judges since Trump was elected, including two to the Supreme Court and 29 to circuit courts, McConnell said confirming judges remains his top priority.

The only Democratic pickup came in Nevada, where Rep. Jacky Rosen defeated Republican Sen. Dean Heller. He was the lone Republican seeking re-election in a state Trump lost two years ago.

Republicans held on in Tennessee and Texas. Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn defeated former governor Phil Bredesen for an open seat, and Sen. Ted Cruz beat back an impressive challenge from Rep. Beto O'Rourke.

And the GOP was hanging on to another open seat in Arizona, where Rep. Martha McSally had a slim lead over Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

One additional race remained to be decided, and it won't be until Nov. 27. Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican appointed to the seat in April, will face Democrat Mike Espy in a runoff because none of the candidates won an outright majority Tuesday. But the state is heavily Republican.

Those results led to these early conclusions about the Senate elections and their aftermath:

Trump's late-season blitz of campaigning appeared to help. He made two stops each in Florida, Indiana and Missouri, and one each in Montana, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia. Only the last two states re-elected Democrats, with Montana's race still to be decided.

The president's magic didn't work in the industrial Midwest. The states that carried him to election in 2016 – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – all elected Democratic senators.

For vulnerable Democrats, a vote against Kavanaugh may have been fatal. Five were campaigning in states Trump won overwhelmingly in 2016. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to support Kavanaugh, and he won re-election. Montana Sen. Jon Tester barely survived, and three others were defeated.

Women will increasetheir number in the Senate by one if Hyde-Smith holds her seat in Mississippi. The defeats of Heitkamp and McCaskill were offset by the victories of Blackburn and Rosen. Whoever wins the Arizona seat will bring the number of female senators to 24.

Money talked, except where it didn't. Self-financed Republican candidates won in Florida, where Scott spent more than $50 million of his fortune, and Indiana. But they came up short in New Jersey and Ohio.

Third-party candidates may have influenced results in two big races. A Green Party candidate in Arizona and a Libertarian Party candidate in Montana each won more votes than the number dividing the major party nominees.